Machine for manufacturing sheet metal surfacing units



y 1941 H. J. LITTLE 2,241,146

' MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL SURFACING UNITS Filed April 14,1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Haw/m0 J1 LITTLE.

H. J. LITTLE May 6, 1941.

MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL SURFACING UNITS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April I4, 1957 INVENTOR. HOWARD (IL/1- 7'1. 5.,

ATTORNEY.

Patented May 6, 1941 MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SHEE METAL SURFAGIN G UNITS Howard .1. Little, Fort Thomas, Ky., assignor to The Andrews Steel Company, a corporation of Delaware Application April 14, 1937, Serial No. 136,879

1 Claim.

This'invention relates to the manufacture and fabrication of sheet metal material and particularly to the manufacture and fabrication of sheet metal strips which are used for surfacing units for walls, roofs, and the like, of buildings. Sheet metal is thin and flexible, and particularly so are sheet metal roofing and siding units which are of relatively large dimensions. To overcome this and give added rigidity and stiffness to the units, they are ordinarily corrugated with complementary elongated elevations and recesses alternately disposed across one dimension of the units. These units are laid with one side and end overlapping the corresponding opposite side and end of similarly constructed units. In surfacing coverings of this type, it is a problem, due to the forces of capillary attraction,,to prevent water from creeping between the overlapping portions of the units beneath the surface covering. Furthermore, when sheet metal surfacing units are laid in overlapping relation, the overlapping margins are wavy and out of contact at various spaced intervals between places where nails are applied, thereby creating open spaces which give access to water. This is particularly tru of the lower edge of the unit. Accordingly, it is the aim of the present invention to provide a machine for constructing said units.

The units are ordinarily provided with complementary elongated elevations and recesses alternately disposed across one dimension of the sheet, said corrugations being preferably continuous and uninterrupted. To interrupt the forces of capillary attraction in these conventional units, one marginal side edge may be advantageously formed with a beading that provides a recess on the underside and between the contacting surfaces of the overlapped sides of adjacent units. The beading is provided on that marginal side edge which is to overlap the opposite' marginal side edge of a similarly constructed unit. A similar beading is provided on one marginal end'transverse to the corrugations and near the edge to be in that portion of the end which overlies the opposite end of a similarly constructed unit. Thus in the surfacing layer composed of the overlapping units, the forces of capillary attraction will be interrupted throughout the overlapping portions, both longitudinally and transversely. The side and end of the unit which are provided with the headings may be advantageously flexed below the underside of the unit so that when overlapped with the opposite side and end of similar units. the flexed side and end will be compressed to provide a continuous line contact when theunits are nailed. This is particularly advantageous in respect to the beaded end of the unit.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet corrugating machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 1A is a detailed cross-sectional view taken on line la-l'a of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the rolls taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of a section of one of the facing segments on the upper roll;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a surfacing unit formed on the machine;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of similar surfacing unit formed on the machine;

Fig. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line '!--1 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 99 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 10 is a top plan view showing a section of a surfacing layer with the side edges of the units overlapped; and

Fig. 11 is a side View, partly in cross-section, of the flexed end and the opposite end of an underlapped unit.

Referring specifically to the drawings in which like numerals have been used to designate like parts, a corrugating device comprising essentially a pair of corrugating rolls I and 2 are mounted in a pair of standards 3 supported on any suitable foundation 4. The lower roll- I is preferably non-adjustable, whereas the other roll 2 is advantageously adjustably mounted in the standards, the adjustment being eifected by bearing blocks 5 movable within recesses 6 in the standards in which the ends of the rolls are journalled. These blocks 5 may be conveniently manipulated by means of hand Wheels 1 to position the roll I in relation to roll 2. Springs (not shown) are preferably interposed in the standards to impinge against the blocks 5 and normally hold the rolls slightly spaced apart. The corrugating rolls are driven by any suitable source of power typified herein by electric motor 8 which is connected to the rolls by any suitable gear mechanism housed within the casing 9. The driving mechanism is of conventional construction and does not need to be described in detail.

The rolls are the same in general construction, each preferably having an hexagonal periphery to receive a facing that may either be integral or conveniently divided into any number of separate segments. The segments on one roll are provided with the female dies and'those on the other are provided with the male dies for forming the headings, these and the corrugations being adapted to cooperate or intermesh as the rolls are rotated, with the sheets to be corru- This may be formed integral with the facing segment or separately attached thereto as by a bar inserted within a groove substantially, as shown in connection with the. hereinafter described male die forming the, circumferential beading. The segments I8 provided'on the other roll l are of the same general construction as the segments Ii) on the upper roll, the only differ'ence being that instead of the raised portion H a recess I9 is provided and positioned to receive the raised portion ll on the upper roll in order to form the side marginal beading 25 in the surfacing. unit. It, too, may be formed in the facin segment or by a grooved bar inserted within a recess in the segment and attached thereto. The width of two segments facing surface as shown corresponds to the width of a standard size sheet which isto be corrugated. The rolls, however, may be larger or smaller to accommodate more or less than six facing segmerits, but siX facing segments are the preferred number to be employed. These may be of a width corresponding to that of one or more standard sheets. As shown, they are disposed to corrugate three sheets upon one revolution of the rolls. In other words the faces of two segments are equal to the width of one standard sheet. The widths of the segments may be such as to corrugate one or two sheets upon each revolution'of the rolls. i

Gne or both ends of the facing segments 10 are each provided with a transverse projection 2i disposed to cooperate with corresponding recesses 22 formed on segments E3. The projections 2! and recesses 22 do not extend entirely across the Width of the segments but extend from the end of the longitudinally disposed projection and the recess-to a distance slightly short of the width of the segments. thereby forming atransverse beading '23 terminating slightly short of the side. edgeopposite to that which is provided with the beaded marginal side. The side edge withthe' beading 2!! terminates with the wall oft-he marginal'corrugation extending downward; The opposite side edge may terminate with the side wall of the corrugation extending downward (Figs. 4 and 6) or upward (Figs. 5 and '7).

sponding to upward inclination of the upper roll.

Or to avoid any special construction in the contour of the rolls or segments, the male and female dies for forming the transverse beading may be mounted on respective insert 26 and 21 within an annular groove formed in the segments and fastened thereto. One portion of the male die carrying insert will be provided with a down wardly inclined face 28 and the corresponding portion of the female die will be upwardly inclined at 29. The sheet to be corrugated will be fed into the machine with the side edge in alignment with the outer edges of the inserts. If it should be desiredto downwardly flex the opposite end of the sheet, a similar construction may be provided on the right hand ends of the rolls.

The blank metal sheets from which the surfacing units are to be corrugated, are cut into desired sizes and then fed between the corrugating rolls. In order to facilitate feeding the blanksto the corrugating machine, a feed table 30 may,

be positioned adjacent the rolls, and at spaced intervals the table is cut away at 3| to provide for any number of endless feed chains 32 to move and'automatically feed the sheets to the embossing rolls. Each of the endless chains is provided with arms 33 arranged in parallelism so that when rotating they engage the edge of the sheets and feed them to the corrugating rolls. The length of the sheets vary, some being short and some being longer, thus it is preferable to provide several feeding devices, for by having several of them, sheets of varying lengths can be readily handled without making any adjustment.

1 s A guide rail device 54 or other suitable e'nd guide may be positioned loosely on the table against which one end of the sheets is contacted to align them as they are being fed through the corrugating rolls.

The endless feed chains 32 are fitted over sprockets 35 mounted on idle shaft 36 and similar sprocket (not shown) mounted on a driven shaft (not shown) running parallel to shaft 36 and adjacent the lower roll I. One end of the driven shaft is journaled in bearing 37 in the standard. The table maybe adjusted in position adjacent the corrugating rolls by means of hand wheels 38; In the embodiment of the machine herein illustrated the circumferentially disposed projections and recesses for forming the transverse beading are formed on the left hand ends of the corrugating rolls but it will be understood that they could, if so desired, be provided on the right hand end of the roll in a similar construction;

The corrugated sheets are preferably corrugated with'the side edge, and end edge beading downwardly pressed or in other words, the corrugatedsheet is discharge from between the rolls with the weather exposed'face down. The nonweather face is that providedwith end beading recesses.

These sheets are laid as shown in Fig. 10 with the beaded side edge overlapping vthe opposite non beaded side edgeof asimilarly constructed unit, thereby providinga space (Fig. 8) length-- the side and,

wise between the contacting surfaces of the overlapping sheets. And the bottom beaded end over laps the opposite upper non-beaded end of a similarly constructed sheet, thereby forming also a space (Fig. 9) crosswise between the contacting surfaces of the overlapping sheets. The edge of the flexed end 25 rests upon the face surface of the undersheet (Fig. 11) and is pressed down to bring the underface in line contact (Fig. :9) with the under sheet when the nail 38 is driven home.

In the apparatus illustrated, the sheet is corrugated, headed, and flexed in a single operation. Although this is a preferred expedient of manufacture as the machine is consolidated into a single unit and all steps of manufacture are effected in a single operation, it will, of course, be understood that the invention may be practiced by dividing the machine into separate units for performing the individual operations. Rolls have also been illustrated as the preferred means for carrying out the various steps of the process, but other means are also suitable.

While I have described one preferred embodiment of the machine and one preferred embodiment of corrugated roofing unit for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be understood that various changes in details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

A machine for corrugating sheet metal sur facing units comprising rolls provided with cooperating male and female dies for forming corrugations across one dimension of the sheet, means disposed longitudinally of the rolls and at spaced intervals on the periphery of the rolls for forming a marginal beading along one of the corrugations, and bead forming means on one end of the rolls extending circumferentially from the end of the longitudinally disposed beading means to a point terminated short of the next adjacent longitudinally disposed beading means.

HOWARD J. LITTLE. 

